Remember When
by Phantomofthemall
Summary: Will be written in three parts! This story explores the complex relationship between Jodie Holmes and Ryan Clayton, as it develops from mutual respect towards a blooming romance. First part "Monsters" published! Check it out!


**CH1: Monsters** (aged 8 years)

"You should eat something, Princess. It's going to be a long day for you..."

Jodie looked down at her plate full of eggs, bacon and toast, and was about to grab the pink salt shaker, when it suddenly fell over with a loud noise and rolled away from her reach.

"Stop it, Aiden!" she said frustratedly.

Cole, who was wearing a flower-patterned apron, turned around to see what was going on and reached out to hand Jodie the salt upon seeing her eyeing the shaker with an annoyed expression. Then he moved back to the stove filling his plate with a delicious-looking omelette and sat on the table across from Jodie.

For a few minutes they just sat and ate in silence as Aiden blinked the kitchen lights until he grew tired of it and stopped. Swallowing the last piece of his omelette Cole looked up at Jodie leaning his chin on his hands.

"Did you two see any monsters last night?" he asked of Jodie, who was taking a sip from her glass.

Jodie drank the remaining juice from the glass and placed it slowly on the table. She shrugged before violently impaling a piece of bacon and stuffing it in her mouth.

"It's alright, Jodie. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Cole said straightening his poisture. "I was just wondering since Aiden seems quite restless this morning."

"Aiden doesn't like to talk about the monsters," Jodie said quietly looking at her plate. "He hates them."

Cole nodded sighing. "I know... But you know, today Nathan and I are going to do some more tests to see if we can do anything to help you with sleeping. How does that sound?"

A pile of fairy tale books collapsed to the floor beside the night stand making both of them jump.

"Aiden says it sounds good," said Jodie after a few seconds. Then her face lit suddenly up. "Can we draw afterwards, Cole? You promised you would draw me a unicorn, like the one in my shirt..."

"Oh, we will see after the test, sweetie," he said smiling. "Nathan said it would take a little longer this time, but I'm pretty sure we have some time to play after he's finished."

Jodie nodded. "Can I go to the bathroom now?"

"Sure. Go ahead," Cole said laughing. "I'll wash the dishes and then we will go. Oh, and be sure to take Bunny Gruff with you into the test room, dear."

"I will!" said Jodie as she jumped down from the kitchen stool and ran to the bathroom.

"So, you haven't been able to determine what kind of a creature has been linked to Miss Holmes?" asked a young agent cled in a black suit interest clear in his deep voice.

He had turned to look at Mr. Dawkins, who was still sitting in front of the computer watching as Cole was trying to catch a yellow floor lamp which Aiden was moving around Jodie's room.

"Well, we are beginning to get a picture..." Nathan started feeling slightly annoyed that the agent had called Aiden "a creature". "But there's still a lot of work to do in order to form a full understanding of his true essence and - most importantly - what he's capable of."

The agent stood in front of one of the one-way mirror's through which he could also look into Jodie's room. He either didn't notice or care that Nathan was paying close attention to his demeanor and gestures as he watched how Jodie yelled at Aiden to make him stop harrassing Cole.

"It looks like the creature is not fully under the girl's control, does it, Mr. Dawkins?" he asked quirking up his brow.

"Yeah, well, you know... She's just a kid," he said defensively. "And Aiden's got... well... quite a bad temper at times."

The young agent turned to look at Nathan sighing. "I'm just here to do my job, Nathan. And my job is to determine, whether this creature, or entity as you call it, could propose a serious threat to human kind some day..."

Nathan felt like he had stabbed him straight to his back. He grabbed the arm of his spectacles and pulled them off his nose. "It almost sounds like you are doubting my professional skills, agent..."

"So, you can assure me that nothing bad is ever going to happen around the girl and this creature?"

"Look, Mr. Clayton," said Nathan trying hard not to sound irritated. "We are doing our best here to protect Jodie and everyone else, and I personally think that the only way to do that is to get to know Aiden as well as possible... I don't feel like he's the enemy, and I don't want to treat him like he could become one."

"Don't make it sound like I'm an idiot, Nathan," the agent said. "I know what you are trying to do here, and I respect that. But you must realize that the CIA is not as lenient with these things... They want to know that the girl is taught to control that creature, not the other way around."

"So, what are you saying?" Nathan asked rhetorically. "That we should send Jodie to some of your training programs and let you use her talent for your benefits, is that it? She's already been through too much for her age!"

"I'm afraid she has no choice," the agent said stressing every word of his sentence. "One mistake and she could be dead. Dead! The Agency -"

"Jodie..."

Nathan's voice trailed off as he realized that the door to the monitoring room hung open and that Jodie was standing there on the door frame. Agent Clayton turned around to see the skinny girl crushing her pink blushie bunny against her chest with her arms. She was staring at him with a blank expression, when Cole stepped into the room.

"There you are, Princess! I went looking everywhere for you!" he said sounding guilty she had got away and interfered with Nathan and agent Clayton's discussion. "I'm sorry, Nathan - agent Clayton... We will come by later!"

"No need, Cole," Nathan said looking at Jodie. "Jodie, why don't you come and say "hi" to your new friend Ryan? He came here to see you."

Ryan was eyeing Jodie nervously as he squated waving his hand at her. "Jodie... That's a beautiful name. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Jodie answered quietly looking at Ryan.

"I heard you had a special friend, Jodie," Ryan said trying to sound gentle, although he knew he was very bad with kids. His girlfriend Sarah had tried to talk to him about having one of their own, but he had backed out of the conversation. He just didn't feel like he was ready for it. "Is he here, too?"

Before Jodie could come up with an answer a chair behind Ryan and Nathan moved making a nasty dragging sound. Ryan looked around slightly surprised. It was different to look at the creature making things through a window than actually be in its presence. It creeped him out a little, if he was being honest.

"Look, Jodie. Ryan here is going to make you a couple of questions about Aiden," Nathan said walking closer to Jodie and touching her shoulder gently. "Is that okay with you?"

Jodie looked a little alarmed, but her voice was quite calm as she spoke: "I guess..."

"Okay. We will be in the hallway. Just call, if you need us." Nathan looked at Ryan before walking out of the door after Cole and shutting the door behind them with a click.

At first Jodie and agent Clayton just stood there looking at each other. It was like a battle of two minds. Jodie was trying to figure out, who he was and what he did there - what he had been meaning to say, when they had noticed her standing there... She just wanted to know, what he meant.

Ryan searched her face closely trying to get past the fact that this sweet-looking little girl cled in pink was bonded with a bodiless entity and could proof out to be dangerous. To his surprise he didn't see anything alarming, or scary as he looked at her. Nothing screamed dangerous or abnormal in her presence. Although he felt a little bad that she had heard him say such things... To him she looked normal. The only thing which made her stand out from other little girls in his opinion was perhaps the overwhelming sadness in her gaze, which prooved to him that she had seen a lot of terrible things happen to her. But instinctively he knew this girl was not that kind to want to hurt anybody.

"So, I bet Nathan has told you about me coming over to talk with you, has he not?" he asked after they had both been seated on wooden chairs.

Jodie shrugged. "Not really."

"Well, okay," said Ryan a bit awkwardly cursing Nathan in his head. "I'm here to ask you something about that thing which moved the chair earlier..."

"His name is Aiden," said Jodie instantly. "And he doesn't like that you call him that..."

"Very well... About Aiden," Ryan said sounding a little disgruntled, but managing to smile, while taking out a blue pen and a small black notebook from his pocket. "So, how old are you, Jodie?"

"I'm eight," she replied swaying her legs back and forth. She did that when she was nervous, and for some reason being with this agent Clayton person made her very nervous. It made Aiden nervous, too, she could tell.

"Okay. How about your friend Aiden?"

"He just is. He doesn't have an age." Jodie looked at him wondering why she needed to answer his questions.

"Are you sure? So, you can't like see him, or...?"

She shook her head.

"Okay, Jodie," he said writing down in his notebook. "And has he ever tried to, you know, hurt you? Has he ever done something bad to others?"

Jodie pursed her lips together as she looked around in the room nervously. The lights above them blinked. She said nothing. His words had stirred some unwanted memories in her mind. She could hear her foster-father shout at her after Aiden had almost strangled that boy in the snow...

"Jodie? What is it?" agent Clayton asked.

"I'm not supposed to tell," she said her voice shaky, pleading. "Can I go now? Aiden doesn't like to be here."

It was a lie. It was _her,_ who didn't want to be there any more. Not Aiden.

"Alright, Jodie. I know this is making you both nervous, but I have just a few questions left to -"

Suddenly Jodie screamed out of fright as she saw a chair rise into the air and get hurled across the room by an invisible hand before crashing against the wall behind her. Next thing they saw was the table starting to tremble in the centre of the room. The red plastic box, where the pencils had been neatly set, fell over the table sending the pencils on the floor with a clattering sound.

"It's starting again!" Jodie yelled in obvious agony. "They are coming."

Suddenly they heard Nathan's voice coming from outside the door. He was banging on it trying to get in. "Jodie! Ryan! What's going on in there?"

"Nathan!" Jodie yelled crying as Ryan tried to soothe her. "Nathan, they are coming!"

"Jodie!" Cole yelled through the door. "The door's locked. You'll have to open it!"

The lights above them were blinking making Jodie hug her bunny even more fiercely. Ryan looked around to see what was going on, but saw nothing except the lights which went on and off. Then he noticed both his and Jodie's breaths coming out as white steam. He turned to Jodie.

"You can make it stop," Ryan said grabbing Jodie by her upper arm. "Look at me, Jodie. Just make it stop."

Jodie pulled her arm free. She was shivering from her head to her toes as she looked at Ryan tears glimmering in her eyes, "I can't! It's not Aiden. It's _them_..."

Before she could say another word the chair under her rose up making her scream even louder. It soared upwards with her on it before Ryan could grab her, until the chair and Jodie were close to the ceiling of the room.

"Oh crap!" Ryan yelled as the monitors behind him exploded one by one. "It's going to be alright, Jodie. Just hold on -"

He took his gun out of his pocket instinctively, although he knew it was useless against the likes of Aiden.

"Aiden!" Jodie screamed.

Suddenly there was a loud creaking sound. Ryan looked up just in time to see the huge fluorescent lamps and the heavy iron conduits keeping them in place fall off, and he managed to dodge with a quick somersault just in time before they managed to hit him. Ryan heard Jodie scream and saw her hanging on one of the chair's leg with all her might as it had managed to finally knock her off balance. Ryan took quickly off his coat and tossed it on the floor before him.

"Jodie, it's okay... Let go!" he yelled to Jodie, who was clearly in a state of shock. "You need to let go, now!"

Ryan saw her look down her face pale with fright. Then she closed her eyes as she let go of the chair letting herself fall through the air screaming... She fell right into his arms, which coiled around her tiny form protectively.

"We will get you out of here. I promise," Ryan spoke reassuringly while setting her down and letting go of her. "Just run to the door, okay?"

Jodie nodded her eyes red from crying and turned around to run for the door as he watched her. He was about to follow her, when something stopped him - making him fall to the ground. He couldn't breathe.

Bringing his hands to his throat he wasn't sure what had hit him, until he felt a thin, metal wire on his fingers. Something had managed to wrap it around his throat from behind him. He struggled hard to get free, but it was no use. Something more powerful than him was holding the ends of the wire strangling him slowly and painfully to death.

He saw Jodie banging on the door fiercely with her wists looking behind her and seeing him get strangled... Tears were streaming again from her eyes.

Suddenly the wire loosened around Ryan's neck making him able to breathe again. At the same time the door flew open and in themselves threw Nathan and Cole, who had been trying to break the lock on the door with a hammer.

"Jodie!" Nathan yelled closing her into his soothing embrace a worried expression on his face. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

"N-no," Jodie said her voice hoarse from crying. "But they hurt Aiden, and - and him..."

"Who's them?" asked Ryan, who was lying on the floor out of breath from fighting against the invisible. The wound on his neck was pouring blood.

Cole was at his side checking the wound more closely, as Ryan tried to get up, but failed. His body was evidently too drained from the near-choking experience. He was starting to get pissed at Nathan and Cole not answering him and was about to lose his patience, when he heard Jodie speak in a quiet voice:

"It was the monsters."

Ryan stayed on the floor amongst the wooden splinters and stared at the ceiling, while Jodie's words echoed in his head... What the hell had happened? Had she just been playing at him or what? He pressed his fingers against the skin on his neck and hissed in pain. Had that wound on his neck really been caused by something which sounded so ridiculous in his ears? Ryan felt instantly like he had gotten himself into something he should never have, as he saw Jodie cuddle her bunny with a frown etched to her otherwise serene-looking face. At least now he really knew what kinds of things haunted behind those sad eyes of Jodie Holmes. He couldn't, but to pity her endlessly.

"What is it, Aiden?" Jodie asked suddenly.

Nathan was wiping the tears away from her face. "Darling, what is it? What does Aiden want?"

Without saying a word Jodie took off his arms around her and walked towards Cole, who was trying to suppress the blood flowing form Ryan's neck wound.

"Seriously I'm okay," Ryan said. "It's just a little scratch..."

"Yeah, but it could get infected. You should let a doctor take a look at it," Cole said with a serious tone before he noticed Jodie standing beside him looking down at Ryan. "Hey, what is it, Jodie?"

To everyone's great surprise Jodie placed her bunny on the floor and knelt down before Ryan, while taking his hands into her own. She gave him a half-smile, "This might feel funny."

Ryan didn't know what to expect as he gazed into Jodie's brown eyes, so the sudden tingly sensation which spread to his hands and up to his chest took him by surprise. He tried to pull his hands away, but Jodie tightened her grip, and the tingling feeling soon changed into heat, which slowly made the pain in his throat subside. Soon he didn't feel any pain. He looked at Jodie.

"What did you do, Jodie?" Cole asked pressing his hand to Ryan's neck. He looked at his hand, and realized there was no blood on it. Ryan's wound had closed.

Nathan had frozen with surprise as he looked from Jodie to Ryan without clearly understanding what had happened. At least not until she turned around to look at Nathan and Cole and said,

"Please, don't get angry. Aiden just wanted to help. He likes him."

Ryan was staring at the little girl standing in front of her with his mouth open. Was this it? Was he finally losing his mind?

"Oh, Jodie... Nobody could get mad at you for healing people," Nathan said clearly impressed by what he had seen. "When did you learn to do that? Why didn't you tell us?"

"A while ago," Jodie said shrugging. "I hurt my finger. Aiden healed me."

"Well done, Princess! And well done, Aiden! You hear me," said Cole looking around in the room like trying to see, where Aiden was hiding. "Well done!"

Suddenly the screen in one of the monitors blinked, which made him smile widely.

"Yes, well done, Jodie!" Nathan said tapping Jodie on the shoulder. "But I think both you and Aiden have seen enough for one day, right? Maybe you should go draw in your room with Cole. I don't think we need to do more tests today. Now, say "bye" to Mr. Clayton before you go."

Jodie turned around to look at Ryan, who was still trying to comprehend all that had happened. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Clayton."

Ryan nodded watching as she walked out of the room hand in hand with Cole.

"It was nice to meet you, too, Miss Holmes..."

He had a curious feeling about that girl... A feeling which was very hard to shake off. Even as he had shaken hands with Nathan, walked out of the building and to his car, he couldn't lose that feeling. Although hardly he knew then, that the feeling which gave him the chills was to remain with him for more than eight years until they met again.


End file.
